You are here

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Yurok Tribe are considering release of California Condors in northern California. Support the reintroduction of the California Condor to Oregon and urge policy makers to provide full protection for this endangered but recovering species. It would be a thrill to see these magnificent, intelligent, and social birds soaring in Oregon once again but if we are going to invite them back, we must take steps to ensure that they are not poisoned when consuming carcasses and gut-piles left by hunters using lead ammunition.

We are excited about the opportunity to see these majestic birds soaring in the skies over Oregon but it is imperative that we take strong measures to support their recovery once they are back. To that end, we urge full support under the Endangered Species Act and aggressive action to eliminate the threat from lead shot in poisoned carcasses and gut-piles. The use of lead shot is already reduced and will be fully restricted in California, our neighboring state, within the next two years. This will increase the market and reduce the price of non-lead ammunition and thus, reduce any burden on hunters in Oregon. In addition, studies have shown that people who eat game shot with lead are at risk, as well as many other species of wildlife including Bald Eagles. We emphasize the restriction of lead shot as a win-win strategy and encourage you to adopt full protection under the Endangered Species Act for the California Condor.